#48

In which I get started on actions for the new month to maintain my life (#7), including a new interpretation of an old goal (#101), daily posts (#48), and new shoes (#76).

Happy new year! Is it infecting you with a desire to do more, to be more, to really get it right?

Can you send some my way?

While you do that, I’ll continue to muddle through. This month will be a big reset for my daily routines and my environment — and I hope to proceed gracefully through it. I’m prioritizing my 101 as I enter the last nine months of my 1001. I am struggling more than ever with balancing finding my sense of self again and getting through the days. I carefully prepped a path forward when I created this list, now I just need to follow it. I’ll be combining my monthly actions to maintain three important aspects of my life with the remaining goals on my list and trying to make the most out of my limited energy.

January actions:

To address being active and present in my life, I am going to recommit to my family five year journal, a new interpretation of #101 (regularly keep a journal for a year). I am adding it to my new end-of-day wind down. I hope that it will help me reflect on the differences in my days as well as the small moments that define most of them.

To tackle routines that support but not restrict me, I’m forcing momentum and posting every day this month, #48. I’ve done that on of both my previous lists and found it really helpful. I have a lot to talk about since I’ve been so absent here while slowly working on my list. But I hope that carving out habitual time here on the blog will help me make the most of the time I have for myself in other ways, too. I need to make self-care a routine rather than a special event. I’m trying to make the routines as pleasurable as I can, so I’ll also be making some improvements to the blog along the way and posting more photos.

In order to get back to feeling awesome, I’m still working on my wardrobe challenge with the best friend (finding links from one part of my wardrobe to others) all in the pursuit of #76 and an easy wardrobe that I love. I need to get out of the house each day, so I’m buying into the idea that there is no bad weather, only bad gear. (Except for ice. Ice is bad weather.) I’m on the hunt for clothes that function in more than one season, make me happy, and remove one of the excuses to wallow at home. Plus, I have no shoes with which I can wear socks, and winter is cold. So there’s that, too.

It was bittersweet for me to say goodbye to 2015. It was a hard year with lots of great milestones that I often overlooked because of the great challenges. I’m determined 2016 will be different. To use this list as a catalyst for changes I think I need to end this next year with more grace and joy. To look back and recognize things I can do differently in the coming weeks.

I might have infected myself with some new year’s spirit after all. Welcome, 2016.